/*
 * Copyright (C) 2010 Google Inc.
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package com.smartandroid.sa.json;

/**
 * Defines generic cache interface.
 * 
 * @author Inderjeet Singh
 * @author Joel Leitch
 */
interface Cache<K, V> {

	/**
	 * Adds the new value object into the cache for the given key. If the key
	 * already exists, then this method will override the value for the key.
	 * 
	 * @param key
	 *            the key identifier for the {@code value} object
	 * @param value
	 *            the value object to store in the cache
	 */
	void addElement(K key, V value);

	/**
	 * Retrieve the cached value for the given {@code key}.
	 * 
	 * @param key
	 *            the key identifying the value
	 * @return the cached value for the given {@code key}
	 */
	V getElement(K key);

	/**
	 * Removes the value from the cache for the given key.
	 * 
	 * @param key
	 *            the key identifying the value to remove
	 * @return the value for the given {@code key}
	 */
	V removeElement(K key);
}
